Sleep
by silverpen18
Summary: Gaara falls in love with Naruto for something he can't help. R


**Sleep** - A NarutoxGaara fanfic.

**Disclaimer** - I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it in this fanfic. It is **purely fiction**.

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The full moon hung over the sleeping Leaf Village, bathing it in its pale glow. In particular two bodies tonight, a sleeping Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara of the Sand Village, an undetected visitor.

Gaara stood crouched in Naruto's window watching the blonde ninja sleep like he had been every night that week, just to watch. It had started off as just an observation. Nothing sinister but Gaara was fascinated with Naruto ever since their fight and how the kid beat him. He remembered with a wince how full of hate he was and all the pain coursing through his body and mind when all those memories were dredged up and made him ache. He also remembered his incredible power and how he was fascinated and appalled by how this cocky kid could have so much power and so much love for others. He thought it wasn't fair and he wanted to crush him out of existence and never have to see his eyes again with all the fire and passion and love for his friends.

Deep down, he wanted to feel that kind of love for other people and other people for him without being scared of hurt and loss. Also, the look in Naruto's eyes when they were fighting was with a kind of hate that he had seen in the eyes of so many people in his village and, used to it as he was, it still stung.

There were those words, too.

_'It's almost unbearable, isn't it; the feeling of being all alone? I know that feeling. I've been there, in that dark and lonely place. But now there are…others. Other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself, and I won't let anyone hurt them. That's why I wont ever give up I _will _stop you. Even if I have to kill you!_

_'Because they saved me from myself. They rescued me from my loneliness; they were the first to accept me for who I am. They're my friends.'_

'Friends'. Gaara heard that word and used to think of his uncle. He would think of betrayal, pain…wounds to the heart. Now he thought of his mother, Kankuro and Temari. He thought of loyalty, caring, helping and love. The word embossed on his forehead he never knew the real meaning of until that battle with Naruto. He didn't know if he should have felt stupidity or relief when he realised but what he did feel was an aching and burning desire to know more about Naruto. Everything he could find out. So he decided to watch him. Just for one day.

He was surprised, but not really since he had met Naruto before. He was being sent on a mission to do with the runaway Uchiha with the Hyuuga girl, the boy with the insects that beat Kankuro and the dog boy. Something to do with a kind of insect but Gaara wasn't paying attention. His mind was focused on Naruto and his…aura. He held this astounding positive energy and radiated it like a star. He had a tendency, however, of getting a bit too bright and annoying people - namely the dog boy and the boy with the insects – but he did make Gaara crack a few smiles. He was…humorous. Entertaining. Well, it was humorous since he wasn't on the receiving end of Naruto. He felt some sympathy for the rest of his team.

The first night Naruto didn't sleep right through. He spent a large part of the night watching the damn Hyuuga girl prancing about in a waterfall all slack-jawed and goofy. It made Gaara a little bit sick and he wanted to strangle the both of them for…well, he didn't know what for exactly but it made a bubbling and wrenching feeling in his stomach that made him angrier and angrier the more he watched. He wanted Naruto away from this temptress and sleeping somewhere safe. Preferably far away.

Once he did get to sleep Gaara had planned to leave but once he saw him sleeping, this is where the habit had formed. Gaara was perched in a nearby tree, hawk-like eyes watching the rhythmic rise and fall of the blonde's chest and the way his lips were shaped in a perfect 'o' and was fixated. This annoying, mischievous, loud, energetic boy sleepy so soundly and peacefully it was as if Naruto awake and sleeping were two different people. He wasn't like other people. He was Naruto the knucklehead ninja; Naruto the demon boy just like Gaara. Except Naruto had this extraordinary ability to brush off that ever-present feeling of being an outsider or a freak and have so many friends and so much love for others around him. As well as them loving him back despite his…faults.

Here, though, in slumber he was just the same as his friends, the same as his village folk, and the same as the rest of the world. He was just a boy and Gaara longed for that small glimpse of normality.

But he couldn't sleep. When he sleeps Shukaku makes his move and in turn could endanger his village and further so he was fated to stay awake in order to keep those around him safe and to keep his world safe so he could look in on normality with admiration like a precious gem. There to admire and marvel at.

Before he knew how long he had been sat in the tree the sun was beginning to rise so Gaara headed back to his village, the image of a sleeping Naruto Uzumaki still imprinted on his mind and it would not leave him all the time he was at home. The image would creep in when his mind wandered or during his meditation and it began to worry him because it came with this feeling of fullness in his chest that made him sigh all the time in order to try and relieve the feeling of his lungs being too full of air. Before long he couldn't stand it anymore, made a hollow but plausible excuse to Temari and Kankuro about training and made for the leaf village once again. He set himself a base somewhere in the woods near the leaf and trained during the day until nightfall and snuck into the leaf village – Gaara was slightly disappointed that he could enter so easily and would remember to point that out to the Hokage at some point – to watch Naruto. It took him a while to find his house but eventually Gaara was sat in Naruto's window watching and this was how it stayed for over a week.

Over the time Gaara had been watching Naruto he began to notice more and more things about the blonde Genin. How he breathed evenly, chest rising and falling like the sun and his equally sunny hair stuffed messily under his night cap, crowning his face like a yellow lions mane. He glowed.

He would cry out in his sleep sometimes. Nor for anything or anyone but just make a pained noise and curl back into himself, sleeping in the foetal position looking like a small child. Gaara felt his heart soften when he did this and he wanted to reach out and touch Naruto's face, take care of him, kiss his forehead and assure him it was just a dream. He could feel his mother and her own instinct in these urges.

Other days he would sleep spread to every corner of the bed. This was when he'd had an especially good day, Gaara decided, and a good meal to end it. He would come home smelling like sweat with ramen noodles on his face and have a broad grin as he slept, snoring, full of food and an obscene snot bubble protruding from his nose growing and shrinking with his breathing. This made Gaara cringe but smile because he was something of a knucklehead, but a loveable one. Definitely loveable.

Tonight he was quiet, gripping his blanket so his knuckles were white and his face was tense. He was having a nightmare. The fondness that Gaara had developed for Naruto filled his heart, sitting in his blood and flowing throughout his body. He couldn't stand watching Naruto suffer and before he could think he was stepping into Naruto's room and crouching by his bed. He stroked the leaf ninja's face and watched his expression soften.

"You're okay, ne?" Gaara whispered, letting words he didn't know he was going to say flow out of him. "It was just a dream. You're fine," and he pushed Naruto's hat upwards to kiss his forehead. Naruto's eyes flickered open and Gaara stilled, hand still lightly touching Naruto's jaw and heat rushing to his face.

"Please don't be a dream," Naruto whispered, still half asleep and sounding tired. "If you're a dream I'll never wake up."

He moved forward and brushed his lips against Gaara, startling the sand ninja. He groaned when Naruto started to pull away and pulled him in deeper by his chin. Naruto wrapped his arms around Gaara's neck and pulled him closer. For a brief and disappointing second Gaara thought _he _was the one dreaming but what he felt in his chest rising and pushing to explode was real and warm and beautiful.

"Y-you're not dreaming," Gaara whispered into Naruto's lips and Naruto smiled sleepily.

"I figured that out when you kissed me, Gaa-kun," he said and Gaara blinked at his new nickname.

"How long have you been at my window?" Naruto asked and Gaara looked at the floor, suddenly embarrassed.

"A week or more. Every night," he admitted and blushed when Naruto's bright blue eyes went wide.

"I only meant tonight," he laughed and Gaara went almost as red as his hair, not daring to meet Naruto's eyes.

"You were there all this time, ne?" Naruto asked. "I knew someone was there but I was sure it was just Ero-Senin or Kakashi-sensei."

Gaara felt a little pang of defeat that he had been noticed, the he wondered why he had been noticed by Naruto and not the rest of the leaf village but he tried not to think about that too hard. A mass leaf conspiracy to let Gaara watch Naruto sleep is just as weird as it sounds.

"How did you get here every night all the way from your village?" Naruto asked.

"I've, uh, been sleeping in the woods just outside of the leaf village."

"…"

"What?"

"You really went all out ne, Gaa-kun?"

Gaara stared at his feet with a grimly determined expression on his face.

"You know, when I thought Kakashi-sensei or Ero-Senin was watching me I felt pretty safe but now I know you were watching me…I feel even safer."

Gaara didn't look up from his feet and felt his face heating up again.

"I kissed you for a reason, you know."

Still didn't look up from his feet.

"I've been thinking about you ever since our fight," Naruto revealed and Gaara met Naruto's eyes then.

"So have I," he revealed. "Thinking of you all the time. I think I'm…_fond_…of you…"

Gaara was stumbling over his words, not knowing what to say.

"I like your name for me," he added with a small smile.

"What, Gaa-kun?" Naruto asked and Gaara nodded.

"Heh, I barely even notice. It just kind of popped into my mind…" Naruto grinned. "Give me a name."

"What?" Gaara blushed. "I-I…"

"Come on," Naruto grinned. "Naruto Uzumaki greatest Ninja that ever lived and soon to be 6th Hokage is awesome, but I need a little bit of variety."

"Isn't knuckle-head ninja enough variety?"

"Don't be mean, Gaa-kun! Come _on_. I want a special name. something only you call me."

"Uh…" Gaara thought hard. "N-Naru-chan?"

"That's cute," Naruto laughed sleepily. "You can totally call me that. All the time. Well, not now since I kind of want to kiss you again."

"Yes," Gaara nodded. "Please."

Naruto groaned and buried his face in his pillow.

"Can I keep you?" he asked. "Please??"

"I'm going to need to go home soon…"

"Ugh…Okay. I'll take you. Tomorrow. For now, do you want to lie here with me?"

Gaara felt all the heat in his body rush to his face and to his lower abdomen. A warm dull ache that screamed in a language Gaara didn't know he could understand for Naruto and now.

"Okay," he agreed and removed his gourd and shoes before getting up to lie next to Naruto and kiss the leaf ninja. His leaf ninja. The thought made Gaara's whole body quiver with fear, anticipation and love.

Naruto wrapped his arms around Gaara and pulled him closer, kissing him deeply and lovingly. Gaara felt the rising feeling in his chest, that explosive love, and pulled Naruto closer, moaning into the kiss and savouring every second. They refused to let go of each other for maybe two hours before Naruto blinked up at Gaara with bloodshot eyes and Gaara smiled, running a thumb over the marks on his face with a new found confidence and said,

"You're tired Naru-chan. You need to sleep."

"B-but, I…"

"Hush, knuckle-head," Gaara let a glimmer of a smile settle on his lips. "Sleep."

Naruto smiled, obediently closed his eyes and fell asleep with his arms wrapped protectively around Gaara. Gaara lay pressed close and just felt Naruto's chest rise and fall like the sun he prayed would never go up and they could lie forever.


End file.
